The best of these has to be the lovely graphics of the detailed IGN road maps of France. The images from Geoportail also appear to more recent than those from Google Earth.īeyond this basic product, there are over 100 other cartographic overlays available, which can all be accessed through the menu button ' Données'. The level of the elevation varies by area, but in our own comparison tests we found that in rural areas in particular the images of those provided by Geoportail were of superior quality to those in Google Earth. Geoportail offers both aerial and satellite images of France, in much the same manner as Google Earth does for a number of countries on the planet. However, since this time there have been several major upgrades, including the introduction of a 3D version. Launched in 2006, it is certainly true to say that the Geoportail initial version was rudimentary and difficult to use. The site is provided by IGN ( l’Institut national de l’information géographique et forestière), the French equivalent of Ordnance Survey, the mapping service in the UK. Less known is the French equivalent Geoportail, despite the fact that is has been for around almost as long as the US based virtual map. There will be few readers who have not used Google Earth and even fewer who will not have heard about it.

Earth view of my house